A Study of Dialect Differences in the Speech of First Grade Negro Children in the Inner City Schools of Cleveland, Ohio.

Wiggins, Antoinette Violet

The basic objective of this research was to determine whether educators were justified in lumping togetner all Negro speech as "Negro Dialect" or whether there were wide variations within the inner city Negro community which educators should take into account when preparing reading materials. Thirty first-grade Negro children were randomly selected from four inner city schools in the Cleveland, Ohio School System. Fifteen were in the above average reading group, and 15 were from the below average reading group. Each child was personally interviewed and asked to respond to a set of questions for the purpose of analyzing his verb usage patterns. This interview was mechanically recorded, and a typed transcription was prepared from each tape. Twenty-five kernel sentences were selected from each child's speech sample and analyzed for verb usage patterns. Conclusions include: (1) There are variations in the individual use of nonstandard verb usage among Negro children; (2) Findings in the upper group show that nonstandard usage is probably not a significant factor in acquiring basic reading skills; (3) The lower group shows that there is a relationship between low reading ability and high incidence of nonstandard usage; (4) Results show a speech community of high nonstandard usage and a speech community of low nonstandard usage within the inner city studied. (Author/CK)